Ricardo Banderas
'''Ricardo Banderas', nicknamed Rico, is the massive Demi-human champion of the Battling Area in Nortune, the Imperial capital of Kislev. He has a sturdy reputation, and his size can be frightening. Despite being a prisoner, his lifestyle is superior to that of many nobles. Rico is one of the strongest characters, but one of the slowest. His attacks deal a lot of damage compared to any other character, which alone makes up for his speed. Biography Rico is actually the son of Kaiser Sigmund of Kislev, which is ironic as Sigmund has an absolute discrimination towards demi-humans (which is even furthermore ironic considering that Sigmund was originally a demi-human native of Elru). Rico's mother, Anne, died while he was a child, and though being sick and hated by others for having Rico as a son, she did her best to help him survive. After his mother's death, Rico became a criminal to survive and found his way into the Prison D-Block. During this time he became acquainted with a newly-found subordinate outside among the Battlers and Amazonesses, Hammer the Supplier, whom he'd typically use to clean his laundry. He was not always fair to him however, as he was often the subject of his verbal and physical abuse. His power and skill made him Battler material, and he became the reigning champion of Kislev for many years, until he was defeated by Fei Fong Wong and Weltall. His one desire, despite his apparent disinterest, is to avenge his mother and himself. Xenogears Rico has shown to have a rather fickle nature. At first he shows little interest in joining Fei's party. Upon losing the title of battling champ, he resumes his assassination attempts on the Kaiser, until his subsequent recapture. After this, he is dealt with harshly, in the form of being pitted against a Rankar without his Gear. Fei comes to his rescue and attempts to convince him that there must be things for him to live for. Rico gives no reception for Fei's compassion for a second time (the first time being when he got injured fighting a monster in the Kislev sewers to help clear his name). Upon the sight of his hometown coming under attack from Gebler forces, he's apparently uncaring and cynical about Fei's rushing into action. When he sees the people of the Kislev slums evacuating to safety the first words that come to his mind are "Who gives a damn about this crap town!?" Then Fei's words reach him and cynically resides to the notion, "...I'm crap too." He then somehow retrieves his Gear among the confusion of the sky battle, and rushes to assist Fei. After successfully averting Kislev's destruction, he's nowhere to be found until a short time later when he rescues Fei and his friends from secured checkpoint of apparently armed and formidable-looking guards. At this point, he claims his only interest is finding a way out of Kislev, and intends to move on after that. He accompanies the party to the Goliath Factory and assists them in successfully fighting off Grahf from halting their progress, with a little help from Hammer (whom he'd pay repercussion to for being cocky with his success in shooting down his Gear). This victory would be short-lived however as the war ship they stole would soon be shot down by Bart via the Yggdrasil. After being rescued, and not knowing who the culprits was to his predicament, he wished to meet Bart as he was intrigued by his status a revolutionary, until he finds out that he was the one responsible, giving a bruise in return. When Bart apologizes to him, he shrugs it off, saying that he's more impressed with the quality of his Gear and the the others in the dock. Upon the realization that he can't learn about the world from inside a dark prison, he elects to join Bart's crew, and Fei's party to this extent. Upon reaching Solaris with the party, and hearing the position Hammer would choose to have as an informant, Rico chastises him for being pretty much useless in that he'd only be good at watching people die. Upon his capture and subsequent escape from Solaris, he is shocked and infuriated with Hammer's betrayal, cursing him just as he tries but fails to capture Elhaym Van Houten for Krelian. He wouldn't see Hammer again until, after his Gear's anima fusion, upon which Hammer appeared before them in a unique brand of a Wel Gear, and claimed to have super strength like Fei, so confident that not even Rico would be able to defeat him either. He then engages combat with the party. While his Wel Gear proved to be a formidable individual opponent, he was ultimately no match for the party collectively. Upon his defeat, Hammer reminded Rico to return to Kislev as he's next in line to be Kaiser, much to Rico's surprise of him having known that. Rico shows nothing but remorse for Hammer, and would not forgive what Krelian did to him. He would stay with the party up until after the destruction of Deus, as well as after Fei's return from rescuing Elly. Boss battle If the player passes the "Baptismal Ceremony" when first meeting him, he'll be an optional boss. The player however can't hope to defeat him as he has a nigh impenetrable defense parameter. After casting both Steel Body and Steel Fist, he strikes Fei seven times with all of his basic attack combos: Four weak attacks, two strong attack, and one fierce attack. This combination would require the player to have 11 attack command points for their character each time, if not, some matter of a buff that reduces each attack command point to 1. Granted that 7 attack command points are unavailable until after the Shevat segment. This boss battle is scripted, and can't be beaten let alone alter the story through cheats such as that of Game Shark. Gameplay After being an optional boss, Rico prefers to use bare fists and his fighting style is wrestling. He demonstrates most of his wrestling techniques with moves such as the backbreaker, lariats, piledrivers, suplexes, and lariats when using his deathblows. When using his elemental deathblows, Rico can make a triple suplex to his opponent and his lariats are embedded with fire. His piledriver makes a heavy damage to his opponent. In Gear battles, both Stier and his Omnigear, El-Stier fights bare fists and mostly using headbutts when using its moves as well as gunshots from his Gear. Deathblows * Rico Rocket: - 4 AP * Death Drive: - 5 AP * Banderas: - 5 AP * Dragon Fist: - 6 AP * Fire Bomb: - 6 AP * Pile Crusher: - 6 AP * Spin Strike: - 6 AP * Death Roll: - 7 AP * Flame Lariat: - Fire Elemental?, 7 AP * Hell Splash: - Fire Elemental?, 7 AP Trivia * Rico has a strong resemblance to Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda series. Category:Xenogears main characters Category:Male characters